Fairport

It's getting colder every day.  The overnight low temps are in the 30's.  Our decision on where we stop for the night no longer involves anything other than making sure we have electricity for the heater.  It's my job to wake up in the morning an hour before Pam awakens, and I crawl out into the cold to turn on the heater.  We only have a small ceramic heater, and of course, it requires electricity.  Pam has started using the hair dryer at night to pre-heat the inside of the sleeping bag before crawling in. 

I broke down and walked back to the gas station again this morning before we left Brockport.  Even though it's a half mile one way to the station (up hill and into the wind both ways)  I figured it would be as easy as anyplace to get more gas since I could use the little red wagon and not have to carry the 5 gallons.  The reason I'm trying to figure out the amount of gas required to finish this trip is so that we won't be left with too much gas in the tank when we trailer the boat home.  The ideal situation would be to have less than 10 gallons left. Our tank holds 87 gallons, and gas weighs a little over 6 pounds per gallon.  So if the tank was close to empty, that's about 500lbs of excess weight that I wouldn't be towing the 600 mile trip home--or the 1200 mile trip south in January.

It's yet another day of RAIN.  We're tied to the wall in Fairport, and today was their Octoberfest.  But it's pouring down rain, with temps in the forties, and we don't feel like getting drenched and frozen to listen to polka and eat brats. 

In the old days, when traveling on rivers, I've always had a habit of tying the boat with the bow facing the direction I'm heading.  I think that habit started back when I was consuming mass quantities of beer.  That way, no matter how I felt in the morning, I could always remember which way to go.  Here on the canal, we've been tying port side to the wall regardless of which way we were heading or which side of the canal we tie to.  Even though I no longer drink beer, I sometimes have to double check our correct direction when we start out in the mornings.

We've been out long enough on this cruise that the underwear count is running low.  Pam and I are trying to change underwear daily.  She doesn't seem to have a problem wearing mine, but her's doesn't fit me at all.  And it's a little cool for commando.

Tomorrow, we plan to stop in the town of Lyons.  Another FREE dock.  With FREE electric and FREE showers.  However, there is a problem regarding the showers.  The town dock is close to the fire station, and boaters are allowed to go into the firehouse and use the showers there--unless the firemen are out on a call.  You might not see a problem with showering in the firehouse unless your pal (The Dawg) is a retired fireman, and has told you stories about what goes on in the firehouse showers.   We will not be showering in the Lyons firehouse.